Christmas 07 Update!

Dear Friends and Family,

We wanted to wish you all a very Merry Christmas and give you a quick update on our lives. As most of you know, we have had a very exciting year with the birth of our precious little girl, Karis. She has been an incredible blessing to us and we are just so in love with her! We still update our blog several times a week so family and friends can see how she changes and grows. Meagan has thoroughly enjoyed staying home to take care of her. There is absolutely nothing in the world she would rather do! Mark is still working with UPS, but is thankful to have changed departments. Since Meagan stopped working at the Children's Academy, he also picked up a job teaching soccer to kids. He has had a blast teaching 3 and 4 year olds basic soccer skills. Mark has done well with his studies and is very excited to announce that he will be done in August! We are praying about what job the Lord has in store for him next fall and excited about the upcoming change! Please keep us in your prayers during this transitional time. We love you all and pray that God will bless you in the upcoming year!

Finally here!

On Tuesday, May 22, at 10:01 am, Karis finally allowed us to meet her. She was 8 pounds, 13 ounces, and was 21.5 inches long. She is absolutely beautiful and I can't wait for everyone to meet her! There are tons of pictures on our new baby blog (follow the link to the left), but I don't want to reduplicate so there won't be as many on this blog.

The BIG day is finally here!

Wow, we were surprised! The Lord's timing is great (and at times comical, but that's another story).
We realized it was necessary to go to the hospital last night around 9:30 and were admitted around
11pm. Meg has been a trooper and all has gone well. Karis is not here yet, but we are anxiously
awaiting. She should be here within 3 hrs. Both sets of grandparents have graciously and eagerly
endured a near sleepless night.

Nina and Papa

Nina and Papa, Mark's parents, came to visit us this weekend to keep us company and distract us from focusing too much on the baby that is stubbornly refusing to come :) OK, maybe we were also hoping she would come while they were here, but it was so fun to have them visit and nice to have one more relaxing weekend before everything changes.

Mother's Day 07

This year Mother's Day was so special, knowing that Karis is due in four days. My Mom came down to visit me since I can't travel far from the hospital and we had a wonderful, relaxing weekend. I have been so blessed. My Mom and Mark's Mom have been such excellent examples to me of the kind of mother I hope to be to Karis. They have both continually displayed a kind and gentle spirit, devotion to the Lord, a servant's heart, and sacrificial love. It is a little overwhelming to think that I will be a mother soon and that Karis will someday look to my example as well. But I am grateful to have such wonderful mothers to help me learn how to be a mother to Karis.

Blackey's Adventure!

Booger has a new past-time. He gets up here on his own. Can you guess what my shirts look like?

Anytime now!

The doctor said Karis's head is all the way down and could come anytime! He thinks she'll be long, just like her Mommy and Daddy:) I just can't even imagine what she will look like; its crazy to think that she will be in my arms soon!

Enjoying my new rocker

I love to sit in my new rocker and think about what it will be like to rock my new little one to sleep in it. My kitty is not allowed on the baby furniture but I decided to let him in this once to take the edge off his curiosity.

Flirting with Keaton :)

I was so excited that Keaton actually woke up and was looking at me and making faces at me. He is so cute! Its such fun to be an aunt!

We have a nephew!!!

Here's Mark holding Zachary Keaton Jones, our new nephew. He was born on Easter, weighing in at 8 pounds, 9 ounces and 20.5 inches long. We are sooo excited!

Our pretty crib!

I'm so excited! We finally got our crib in the nursey. Now we are ready for Karis!

HCA shower!

These are my two co-workers who threw me a wonderful shower at my work. We played fun games, had yummy food (including a chocolate fountain :), and I got some really great gifts! Thanks so much Heritage Children's Academy!

My first shower

Here's a pic of Mark and I at our first shower. We were incredibly blessed by our friends' and family's generosity and love. Mark kept us entertained as he kept opening baby things that he didn't know what to do with :) Isn't Karis getting big? its so exciting.

So fun to be an uncle!

We got this awesome Domino truck for Jack, our nephew, for Christmas. He loved it, but I actually think Mark and his brothers enjoyed it more. :)